“Before you leave to decide about my fate,” a sombre yet singsong voice made them turn toward the carriage as Cornelia Verhen stepped out of it. “May I have a say in the matter as well?”

“Be my guest,” Regis shrugged. “Just not literally.”

“I know that what my father did to the refugees back in Hunor cannot be forgiven. But I am not him. I understand that my being here puts your people at risk and I will leave if your people decide against me staying here, but please convey to them my words. When my soldiers and I left Hunor along with Father Steon, we managed to bring my family’s most prized possessions with us. Rare tomes, materials as well as gold and silver can be offered to Thornfell as a price for my life if needed. As well as... my hand in marriage.” She added the final part after a bit of hesitation.

“Sister,” Khan let out a sigh. “Saying something like that is the shortest way to get killed by Letty. Trust me, you don’t want a pissed-off druid sending the wrath of Mother Nature after your lovely buns.”

“Khan!” The paladin grumbled, but the Mongol youth just shrugged.

“What? We both know that Letty is quite territorial when it comes to Regis.”

“No arguing over that.” Grego added nonchalantly.

“Oh,” Cornelia looked at them distraught. “Are you already married, Lord Regis?”

“He might as well be at this point.” Khan jabbed him in the side with his elbow.

“I think that’s enough about me and Letty,” the loremaster switched the subject. “We’ll convey your words to the people of Thornfell, but I don’t believe they would be swayed by such an offer. I can allow entry for you Father, if you and your people wish to come along.”

“I appreciate that,” the old priest replied. “But I believe it would be better for us to wait here until the verdict is made.”

“Very well,” Regis nodded. “We’ll call together an emergency meeting immediately to make the decision. It shouldn’t take longer than an hour.”

Saying that the loremaster headed back, followed by Quentin and Grego, the gate of the mountain pass closing behind them.

“Do you really intend to hold a vote regarding the matter? I thought you would outright deny their request.” Grego remarked while walking.

“Believe me, I want to,” Regis let out an exasperated sigh. “But I know the others. They would chew my ears off for days to come if I just sent her away without talking to them about it first. This way at least if the people decide against it, my conscience will be clear on the matter.”

“And if they decide to let her stay?” Grego looked at him with a strange and unreadable expression.

“Then we will have to deal with the consequences together.”

Using the gateway of the secret room behind the small mountain outpost, the group returned to Landwaker Square.

“Listen up people,” Regis activated his far-caller to reach his companions. “Tell everyone you see to gather at the town hall immediately!”

“What happened?” Osmond asked through the arcane earpiece.

“We have unexpected guests and we need to vote about whether we let them in or not.”

“Who the hell came here that you have to call together the entire town for a vote?” Cruz grumbled as the dark elf headed toward Obelisk Square while Grego and Quentin tried to spread the word around town.

“The daughter of Verhen from Hunor.”

“Why would she come here before places? This doesn’t make any sense.” Valerie remarked with Fabien and Letty agreeing.

“You’ll find out at the gathering. Now get moving!”

Barely fifteen minutes later the town hall was full of people, some of the still missing townsfolk arriving while breathing heavily from running all the way here from wherever they were when they heard the news of the emergency meeting. The loremaster looked at the anxious crowd, waving them silently before beginning his speech.

“First of all, I’d like to apologize for dragging you here so suddenly, and at the same time reassure you that no one has attacked us.”

His words earned him a hushed murmur from the crowd.

“Not yet, you mean.” Cruz grumbled from the side.

“However,” he continued. “Something happened that you need to be made aware of because it concerns everyone present. Most of you came here from Hunor, just as my companions and I did. We left behind many friends, hoping that they would manage to make due, even with the way things were. However, Father Steon, the head of the Church of the Seven Paths from Hunor showed up at our gates and hoped that we would let him and his people in.”

Hearing this news garnered another round of murmurs.

“While I would gladly welcome him and his flock, they brought along someone and expected. Lady Cornelia Verhen, daughter of the former Lord Verhen also came along. She too asked for refuge due to her father being stripped of his lordly position at Hunor which had been taken over by someone else.”

A moment of dead silence filled the town hall as the people stared at him puzzled.

“While I wish to flat out refuse her request, Quentin here wanted to ask you on the matter since it was something that would concern you equally and thus he believes you have the right to decide on the matter. Quentin,” he turned toward the paladin while stepping away from the podium. “Make your case.”

The man let out a sigh before stepping up to speak his mind.

“I know that Lord Verhen caused grief to many of you, but his daughter is innocent of that blame. She came here to seek safety the same way you did once, so I believe that she should at least have a chance at it. Her entourage managed to get her out of Hunor, but as a fallen noble she has no allies in the kingdom and since it’s already in turmoil due to the succession war, she likely found Thornfell the safest place to choose. Should we let her stay, she would gladly hand over the inheritance she saved from Hunor, along with her soldiers whom we could add to our roster to have more defenders.”

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“Are you out of your God damn mind?” Cruz was the first to question the paladin loudly, making the stunned crowd shudder as they turned toward the wood elf.

“Cruz...”

“Don’t Cruz me! Sheltering the daughter of a fallen noble from not only her fellow nobles but also the royal family is the perfect excuse anyone could wish for to justify attacking us. How many soldiers she could have brought along? Ten? Twenty? What inheritance? A dowry of some coin or treasures her father gathered while wringing his people and the refugees dry?”

“None of that is remotely worth the risk letting her inside would bring along.” Osmond remarked, the crowd breaking into a heated argument over the matter in a moment’s wake.

“If the nobles of Ecragurne want to attack us, they won’t care to justify it,” Lithia stated, the townsfolk looking at the priestess surprised. “Lady Cornelia has always opposed her father’s decision to harass the refugees and often brought over whatever supplies she could to the church so that we could distribute them among those in need. Sending her way now would be the same as spitting her in the face for all the kindness she had shown.”

“Even if it would risk the lives of everyone here?” Valerie argued.

“The risk was always there,” her brother retorted. “She’s just another piece to tip the scales against us a bit. One more or less won’t matter.”

“Like hell, it won’t,” Valerie cussed. “You know as well as everyone else how crazy the nobility are about bloodlines. Fallen noble or not, she’s still a hell knows how many generations descendant. She’s also well-known to be talented and pretty. The worst combination to get. Every two-bit idiot noble with a second or third son would want to get her so that they could force her into marriage to further their bloodline and prestige.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Letty hummed. “Since she has no claim to any land, she would be a poor choice for anything besides bloodline matters and there are plenty of noble daughters for that.”

Although the outlanders talked about the matter as if they were well-known, it was likely the first time the townsfolk had ever heard about such matters. Despite that, it was clear that the matter wasn't as simple as one would think.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Regis said loudly with an authoritative tone. “We didn’t come here to argue, but to vote. You’ve been all made aware of the risks and rewards letting her stay would incur. Make your choice. Those in favour of refusing Lady Cornelia’s request, raise your hand!”

Following his words, nearly half of the people present raised their hands in the air, including some of his companions.

“Those in favour of letting her stay, raise your hand!”

While the difference in number was small, the number of people voting for letting Cornelia stay still proved to be more in the end by a few dozen.

“So be it,” Regis sighed with an already growing headache. “Following the vote, we will allow Cornelia Verhen and her soldiers entry into Thorn Vale.”

“I’ll call the guards at the mountain pass to inform them.” Grego stated as he left the town hall.

“The gathering is dismissed,” the dark elf said loudly as he too headed outside. “Lavo manus meas.”

“Did he just speak Latin of all languages?” Amanda asked the others as they watched the brooding loremaster leave.

“He did,” Mary confirmed. “And not the most cheerful words.”

“Why?” Sophie turned toward the woman. “What did he say?”

“I wash my hands,” Valerie replied with a worried tone. “He totally butchered it grammatically, but the meaning was clear as day. He believes we fucked up. Big time. Oh, by the way,”

Even as he walked away, Regis could still clearly hear the ringing sound of a bitch-slap along with a string of curses that even a seasoned sailor would have turned red from. While the townsfolk kept dispersing to return to their daily lives, Regis returned to his manor in a foul mood. Despite trying his best to calm his nerves with some spells and enchanting practice, a vague feeling of unease kept bothering him. When dinner time came, he found Letty in the dining hall, talking with young Dana while waiting for the food to arrive.

“There you are,” she said. “I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t come out of your workshop for the rest of the day.”

“You could have just come for me to drag me out as usual.” The dark elf remarked while sitting down.

“I know better than to do that while you’re brooding.”

“I wasn’t brooding.” He retorted.

“Of course, you were. Although not without reason. Val even slapped Quentin square in the face for putting you in a tight spot with the whole vote thing.”

“You know this is going to bite us in the ass, right?” The loremaster sighed as he accepted the plate of food offered by his maid.

“We did a lot of things recently that could bite us in the ass,” she hummed. “They could use any of those to justify attacking us. Lady Caroline would be just one of the possible choices. Although I don’t like the fact that she was so ready to marry you in exchange for shelter.”

“Did Quentin tell you that?” Regis looked at her slightly surprised.

“Khan did, actually.”

“Figures. He could never keep his mouth shut for more than a minute.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Letty shrugged. “You refused her anyway.”

“You know I don’t give a damn about bloodlines and all that shit.”

“I know,” the elven woman smiled happily. “You never did. So... what now?”

“Now? Now we wait and pray for this whole mess to go away. If we’re lucky, the succession war goes down fast and whoever wins will forget about us.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?” Young Dana asked from the spell weaver, earning a slight head shake.

“No, but one can dream. By the way, where is Caroline staying?”

“Fabien and Mary offered her the best room in the inn. For a price. She seemed fine with that, although her steward was clearly against it.”

“She has a steward?”

“Some arrogant-looking douche with the worst case of bed hair you can imagine. I asked the others to keep an eye on him in case he was looking for trouble.”

“Good call. What about the soldiers?”

“They got stationed in the barracks. That way our guards can keep an eye on them. Father Steon and the three other clerics joined Lithia at the temple while the refugees were housed in the temporary section. I’m sure Tristan will drop by tomorrow morning to bother you about getting them permanent housing.”

“Most likely. At least we’ll have something to do in the next few days. Thank you for the meal, Dana.” The loremaster said, standing up to leave the dining hall.

A warm bath later Regis collapsed on his bed, drifting away into blissful darkness for the rest of the night. On the next morning, he spent several hours creating stone-walled house frames for the newly arrived families. He then asked Tristan to talk with Jody regarding the roofs. Once home, Regis decided to spend the rest of the day with some ‘slightly’ dangerous experiments. Sadly, most of said experiments ended up in small burns and bruises, with only a single success to show for his efforts.

The newly crafted gateway talisman was the first of many he planned to create. Some of those were meant to be given to his companions. At the same time, the rest would become a rare and valuable commodity to sell for the different spellcasters' guilds once the whole ordeal regarding the succession was over. This small success however was interrupted as the enchanted earpiece began to ring before a familiar voice resounded through it.